Species AthletesBrian Yersky

Brian Yersky

IFBB Pro and 2012 NPC Nationals Super Heavyweight / Overall Champion

My training for the 2012 NPC Nationals and ultimately an IFBB Pro Card was simple and straightforward, yet methodical. Both off-season and pre-contest, it consisted of three components: diet, physical training, and mental training. In my opinion, the last one seems to be overlooked most of the time.

I've been a weightlifting fiend since early in junior high school. I guess you could call it "bodybuilding," but we all know it usually starts with training only chest and arms. I just wanted to be the biggest kid in school, plain and simple.

Training took precedence over sports. I was training during practice and even before games. My junior and senior years of high school, I attended class at Youngstown State University in my free time and began training with the 1-AA National Football Champions. Sports took a backseat to my training, and I went from a three-sport letterman to not playing anything my senior year. As I gained more education in the sport of bodybuilding, I began to train all muscle groups.